Power Naps for Preschoolers

By Health Day

Story Created:
Sep 24, 2013 at 7:00 PM CDT

Story Updated:
Sep 25, 2013 at 7:00 AM CDT

A nap does a preschooler's body...and mind good. That's the headline from a brand new study that looked at the value of a classroom nap. Researchers in Massachusetts recruited a group of 40 preschoolers to measure their visual-spatial memory.

All of the children were asked to play a common game where you look at a grid of pictures and then you have to remember where different pictures are located.

During one testing session, the children napped for an average of 77 minutes in-between viewing the grid and taking the memory quiz. In another, they were kept awake for the same amount of time.

The children did a much better job retaining the location of the pictures after they had taken a nap. The researchers say their findings suggest naps are critical for early learning and they are encouraging educators to develop napping guidelines for young children.